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| The faces of the franchise. |
The Universal Soldier series is a surprisingly large franchise. It heavily resembles the Highlander series in that it contains numerous films that change up the continuity and canon of the series with each release. Franchises like this are extremely frustrating to watch and can make one wonder why the filmmakers couldn't just stick to one timeline in the first place.
Anyways, the Universal Soldier series is comprised of six films...
Universal Soldier (1992) - Theatrical
Universal Soldier II: Brothers In Arms (1998) - DTV
Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business (1998) - DTV
Universal Soldier: The Return (1999) - Theatrical
Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) - DTV
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) - Limited Theatrical + DTV
Of these six films, the first film and the two newest DTV releases are considered official canon. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th films don't count at all (even though The Return stars Van Damme). The 1st, 5th, and 6th films form a trilogy of their own. They are also the only three films in the series to include both Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.
As a die hard action fan, I always believe in watching every single installment in an action franchise. However, I don't have that much of an interest in diving into every single Universal Soldier film when I know that three of them don't even count and aren't considered great films either. Therefore, I have noted that fans online and the filmmakers themselves note that the only ones really worth watching are the three official canon releases. I may review the other films another day but don't have that much of a pressing interest in them at all. Therefore, let's get to it.
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Norris, Leon Rippy, Ally Walker
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 103 minutes
Universal Soldier starts off with an excellent prolouge that sets the stage for the rest of the film and the series in general. The year is 1969 and the Vietnam War is in full bloom. Private Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) has been ordered to protect a small village. Unfortunately, Luc's superior Sergeant Andrew Scott (Lundgren) has snapped and gone on a killing spree. He's slaughtered everyone in the village and severed their ears to create a makeshift ear necklace. When Luc finds Andrew about to kill two villagers, he attacks Andrew and tells the villagers to run. The villagers aren't fast enough though and Andrew shoots them down. Distraught, Luc stabs Andrew with the bayonet attached to his rifle. In his dying moments, Andrew pulls out his hand gun and shoots Luc to death as well. The two plummet backwards and splash dead into the wet ground.
When American soldiers arrive upon the scene, they bag up the two deceased soldiers and sign them up for the Universal Soldier program. The program takes once deceased men and turns them into UniSols, invincible cyborgs that serve the government however they please. They can't think or speak for themselves. They simply take orders and go on dangerous missions taking out terrorists whenever they are needed. When a reporter named Veronica (Ally Walker) sneaks onto the UniSol training ground, she accidentally triggers old memories in both Luc and Andrew. Andrew immediately resorts back to being an unstoppable killing machine while Luc resorts back to being a good natured and protective soldier. It's essentially one big chase across the country as Andrew wants his revenge against Luc for killing him so many years ago.
Universal Soldier is an action film with a great set up that sounds like a sure fire hit. However, I found myself to be quite disappointed with this film the same way that I found myself disappointed with the original Highlander film. There is great potential here but it is all completely wasted. For starters, nothing in the film really engaged me. I was never once sucked into the exciting chase concept of the film. Second, the female lead is extremely annoying. She spends the entire movie with her jaw open whenever Van Damme does something silly like walk around naked to cool off or throw people out of a window. And third, why is there so much unnecessary humor and silly antics in this film? It kept reminding me of the issues with Die Hard 2.
Writer/director team Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin seem to have a habit of taking science fiction/action films and injecting them with lots of unnecessary humor and annoying characters. Their habit to ruin great stories with dumb logic and annoying humor continued into blockbuster hits like Independence Day (1996) and Godzilla (1998). I think the two created a great mythology and set up for an action movie with Universal Soldier, I really do. However, the two didn't even attempt to explore interesting themes with their film and ended up wasting two great action icons in the process.
Universal Soldier isn't all bad though. You could say that the film is also what Devlin/Emmerich do well: dumb action packed fun. Like I said before, the opening prolouge and the first 20 minutes are extremely entertaining. I love that the UniSols get sent on a mission to take down some terrorists at what looked like Hoover Dam. What terrorists would have the balls to take over Hoover Dam?
Lundgren and Van Damme also get to show off their action prowress with numerous car chases, fist fights, and shootouts. Even though I didn't find any of the action scenes in this film to be especially impressive, I did appreciate the variety of action on display. The film almost plays out as a versus film between Van Damme and Lundgren. They continue to chase one another across the country and duke it out numerous times. Their final fight is pretty solid too.
I don't have much to say about this film because not a whole lot happens in it. I think there was great potential to explore something interesting with in this kind of film. Maybe an exploration of the loss of humanity that the UniSols suffer from? Instead, Devlin and Emmerich just wanted to make a dumb action film and that is exactly what they made. I recommend this film only to Van Damme and Lundgren fans because there isn't much else here besides the two of them duking it out. It's also worth checking out if you want to see what a low budget Emmerich film looks like.
Rating: 5/10 - A flawed but dumb and decent sci-fi actioner featuring two of action cinema's greatest stars.
Director: John Hyams
Cast: Andrei Arlovski, Dolph Lundgren, Jean Claude Van Damme, Mike Pyle
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 97 minutes
After two DTV (direct to video) sequels and a failed theatrical sequel, the reception and continuity of the Universal Soldier series was all over the place. If a theatrical sequel couldn't save it than nothing could. Therefore, the series remained dormant for 10 years. In 2009, John Hyams revived the franchise and miraculously brought Universal Soldier back to life. The film erased the continuity of the previous films and acted as a sequel to the original Roland Emmerich film.
Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a breath of fresh air in the direct to video landscape. It avoids all of the pitfalls of so many other DTV action flicks by doing almost everything right. The film's plot is extremely simple to follow, the action scenes are incredibly well shot and choreographed, and the acting is pretty solid too. Nothing looks cheap and nothing screams "direct to video budget." The film also ditches the humor of the previous installments and plays things deadly seriously. Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a gritty, violent, and realistic sci-fi actioner that all action fans must check out.
The film starts with a literal bang as terrorists kidnap the Ukrainian prime minister's children in broad day light. Theses terrorists will only let the children go if hundreds of political prisoners are let go from prison. In addition, the terrorists take over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and threaten to detonate the entire site if their demands are not met in 72 hours. These terrorists have a key element to their plan. They own an NGU, a Next Generation UniSol). NGU's are stronger and more powerful Universal Soldiers that were decommissioned long ago. However, one of the scientists who worked on the original NGU's long ago has joined forces with the terrorists. He and his remaining NGU (Andrei Arlovski) work for the terrorists in exchange for money.
The military sends in human soldiers and even four old UniSols to rescue the children in the power plant. Unfortunately for them, the NGU is extremely powerful and quickly destroys all UniSols and human soldiers with ease. When all seems lost, the military try to use the last remaining UniSol they know of, Luc Deveraux (Van Damme). Deveraux is being conditioned back into society with the help of a female doctor. However, the military want Deveraux to give up all of his human conditioning and turn him into a killing machine once again. If they can't get Deveraux to turn into a mindless UniSol again, than no one can stop the terrorists and their NGU.
What's interesting about Universal Soldier: Regeneration is that Luc Deveraux doesn't even get in on any action until the last 30 minutes of the film. The entire first hour of the film consists of the military trying to get into the plant and failing numerous times. The film jumps back and forth between the military's efforts, the villain's plot, and Deveraux's therapy sessions. If any one character has the most screen time, it might be the NGU played by former UFC fighter Andrei Arlovski. I was surprised that the filmmakers went this route because Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren don't get in on any of the action until the big finale. Even though everyone gets a chance to shine, Arlovski really steals the show in this.
The action in this film is far better than the action found in the original film. It's brutal, bloody, and well shot too. All of the blood and gun effects are physical as well. This means the filmmakers really put their time and effort into creating a realistic action film and didn't opt out to be lazy with digital flare shots or digital blood. Director Peter Hyams (Outland, Timecop, Sudden Death, End of Days) acts as the director of photography and brings an excellent sense of camera work to the film. Having an experienced filmmaker like Peter act as the D.P. to his own son's film turns this DTV material into quality theatrical material. This impressive camera work really shows during an excellent tracking shot when Van Damme mows down numerous terrorists.
Dolph Lundgren is the second billed name on this film. But in all honesty, his screen time must come out to at least 7 minutes. He's essentially a cameo and a great one too. Dolph and Van Damme have a rematch at the end of this film that is much better than the final fight that the two shared in Universal Soldier. The choreography is better, the fight lasts longer, and it ends with one of the best kill shots I have ever seen. There is also a throwback to the opening scene of Universal Soldier right before Dolph and Van Damme duke it out. It was both excellent fan service and my favorite scene in the whole film.
Regeneration is a basic and hard as nails action film that proves that overly complicated plots and poor editing aren't present in every DTV film. The action in this film is far better than many of the fight scenes and shootouts one will find in theatrically produced material. I recommend reading up on what occurs in the original Universal Soldier film and skipping right ahead to this one.
Rating: 7/10 - If well produced action is your thing, than Regeneration is the action movie for you. It revives a dead franchise and proves that DTV material is not to be scoffed at.
Cast: Scott Adkins, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei Arlovski
Country: United States
Rating: R
Run Time: 114 minutes
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is nothing like I expected it to be. It is completely different in almost every way from the previous film. There is now a central protagonist to relate to, the violence and nudity is far more graphic, the plot is very complicated and unpredictable, and Luc Deveraux is now a psychotic villain controlling an army of UniSols. While Regeneration was a safe DTV sequel, Day of Reckoning is a daring and challenging arthouse sequel that transcends both its formulaic genre and DTV trappings.
Day of Reckoning follows one central protagonist, a man named John (Scott Adkins). John wakes up one night and finds masked men in his kitchen. They beat him up and murder his wife and child in front of his eyes. One of the masked men takes off his mask and reveals himself to be a bald Luc Deveraux (Van Damme). John wakes up out of a coma months later and begins to investigate into what happened to him. He quickly discovers that he may not be who he thinks he is and that everything he knows may just be programmed memories.
Luc Deveraux has apparently snapped and cloned an entire army of UniSols to attack the government who created him in the first place. He's even brought back his old pal Andrew (Dolph Lundgren) and found a way to control all UniSols with a simple injection. Deveraux even gets ahold of the clone of the NGU (Andrei Arlovski) from Regeneration and sends it after John to stop him from investigating further. It's a race against the F.B.I., the NGU, and his own sanity as John has to quickly discover what is the truth and stop the UniSol army.
Day of Reckoning feels like an action film directed by foreign filmmakers like Gaspar Noe (Irreversible, Enter the Void) or Nicholas Winding Refn (Valhalla Rising, Drive). Unlike Regeneration, the film has an extreme visual style the consists of near headache inducing blinking lights, sound drop outs, numerous tracking shots, slowed down and sped up footage, hazy lighting, POV camera shots with blinking eye effects, and insanely gory violence. This is not your grandpa's DTV sequel. This is a crazy and unique arthouse-esque film that draws from the influences of many other filmmakers and applies that to the action genre.
The plot of the film is quite confusing. I may need to watch this film a second time because I still don't quite understand everything. Unlike so many other films, Day of Reckoning hardly explains much of the film's proceedings. Many things are left unsaid or unexplained and left to the viewer to understand or decipher. The film never treats the audience like a child and expects us all to be actively viewing the film instead of just passively viewing mindless action. Day of Reckoning also reminded me a lot of Paul Veerhoven's masterpiece Total Recall because it dealt with the themes of questioning one's identity and reality.
Day of Reckoning really pulled a switcheroo on me. I never thought that the hero of the previous film would become the villain of this film. The film even introduces a completely new character as the central protagonist. I have always loved Scott Adkins (The Assassination Games, Ninja) and think this is his best work to date. He finally gets an opportunity to really act in this film and not just shoot people's heads off. Adkins is like a DTV Jason Statham but far more athletic and violent in his action scenes. If you ask me, I think that Adkins is the hardest working and most impressive action star currently working in the United States besides Liam Neeson, Jason Statham, Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, and Daniel Craig.
Dolph Lundgren and Van Damme are reduced to surprisingly very small supporting performances. They only get a few scenes each and earn most of their screen time during the film's final action scene. Van Damme actually out-crazies Lundgren (a real surprise considering Dolph's insane antics over the last few films) by the end of this film when he paints the top half of his head white and the bottom half black. I enjoyed their small roles simply as cameos. Adkins is the true star of this picture and his head deserves to be bigger than theirs on the poster.
Unlike the previous two installments, I am discovering that I could write a whole helluva lot about this film. The action scenes in this film are so brutal and violent that they rival the on screen gore found in Rambo, Punisher: War Zone, and both of Gareth Evans' Raid films. Characters' fingers are literally chopped off of their hands, heads are blown in half from shotguns, and faces are stabbed with machetes. Adkins also has three extremely impressive fight scenes in the film that show off the film's high octane choreography. He has an incredible one on one fight with Arlovski in a sporting goods store that makes great use of baseball bats, medicine balls, coolers, and even clothes racks. Adkins even has a one on one fight with Lundgren and Van Damme in the film's finale. I preferred the Lundgren fight because it incorporated close quarter gun fighting instead of just fists and melee weapons.
John Hyams continues to show his admiration for tracking shots with the film's epic run and gun finale. Adkins runs around an underground cave and continually takes out UniSol after UniSol. The scene is shot entirely with a steadicam and fades to black each time Adkins enters a new room. The filmmakers were clearly cutting in between each room but the fights inside of each new room are completely single takes. If you are a fan of action scenes where characters run around and rack up a body count, than this is one of the best action scenes I have seen in recent memory.
Universal Soldier: Regeneration is what you expect from a Universal Soldier sequel. However, this film is completely different from what anyone could have seen coming. It's so unique, stylistic, and different from the previous film that I could definitely see some people hating it. I am not sure whether I prefer this film or Regeneration but it is a really tough call. I might lean towards this because the action scenes are far more brutal and the film begs repeat viewings. Day or Reckoning is a rare DTV film that really feels like a theatrically produced arthouse film. Even though the film was released on VOD and in very few limited theaters in 3D, I still consider it to be DTV material.
Rating: 8/10 - One of the most unique and far out action sequels I have ever seen. Day of Reckoning sets the bar for how to do a sequel to a once deceased franchise. I highly anticipate the next entry and pray that both Adkins and Hyams return.
